At the opening session of the Hesston College Aviation Department’s annual “Aviation as Mission” event Friday, April 17, two graduates, Travis Pollock and Aaron Diller, and former instructor, Don Woodward, demonstrated the “can-do” attitude that Woodward said is characteristic of Hesston’s aviation alumni.
The three stepped up to the podium at a moment’s notice since Glen King from Ohio, who was scheduled to speak that evening, was unable to attend due to a weather-related flight delay. King’s speech was rescheduled for Saturday morning.
About 35 attended the Friday evening event which reunited and inspired alumni, students, and current and former staff members. The Student Aviation Advisory Board and Campus Activities Board also planned activities for all Hesston students at the Newton Airport on Saturday afternoon.
Wendell Sauder (former faculty and college administrator) and his wife Veronica sponsored the weekend. Wendell, who now works for Flight Safety International in Wichita, noted that he had given Dan Miller, Aviation Department director, his first job at Hesston College.
Woodward, Diller, and Pollock responded to questions fielded by Miller and other pilots about how their aviation careers and calling to Christian mission intersect.
Woodward, born in Peru where his father served as a missionary pilot, said he grew up with a passion for flying. As his faith developed in high school, he dedicated his life to God, but still had questions about how God wanted him to serve. He graduated with a college degree in anthropology. The “definitive moment” of Woodward’s choice of aviation as mission came when a friend encouraged him to go into aviation training, expecting that God would open or close the doors for him.
Woodward earned his pilot license at Moody Aviation School and first served as a pilot in the Congo with the Wings of the Morning Mission. Through his wife, Joan Schrock Woodward’s Mennonite connections in Hesston, he contacted Dan Miller after returning from Africa in 1999, and for the next seven years, he lived out his mission as an instructor in the Hesston College aviation department.
“Relationships are key,” Woodward said. “Focus on those and you’ll end up where God wants you to be.”
Woodward now manages the Cessna Employees Flying Club in Wichita, Kan., where focusing on relationships are both his job and his mission.
In telling his story, Aaron Diller said, “It’s amazing how connections come around to help you.”
Diller’s interest in planes and helicopters began in early elementary school and never let up. He recalled riding from Hesston to Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp and plying the van driver, Don Horst, a pilot and fellow member of Hesston Mennonite Church, with questions about aviation. Horst was the “someone” who “encouraged me in the right direction,” he said.
Enrolling in Hesston’s aviation program was an easy decision since his mother, Norma Diller, worked at the college at that time, Diller said. Since graduating in 1995, he has worked in McPherson, Kan., for a charter cargo company in Michigan and a flight school in Texas. He now trains pilots at Flight Safety International in Wichita along with Sauder.
“Dealing with a lot of people who are trusting their safety to you,” Diller said, is a major qualification for living out aviation as one’s mission.
Travis Pollock began instructing in Hesston’s aviation program after he graduated in 2007. He recently changed jobs and is working for Flight Safety at the Hawker Beechcraft Learning Center in Wichita.
Pollock said that he was practically born with the passion to fly. The first place his parents took him after his birth was to the airport to pick up his grandparents.
Pollock is “definitely optimistic” that the aviation industry will recover from the economic recession and pilots will have work in many areas. In considering his future work, he said, “I want to do something more worthwhile than flying rich people around” and he is exploring a medivac mission. Nevertheless, he said he could also fulfill mission as a corporate pilot or “wherever God puts me” as he combines his passion and motivation for flying with perseverance.
Woodward, too, is optimistic. He said he sees “a lot of promise in the future, especially if we know who we’re following.”
Susan Miller Balzer is a free-lance writer in Hesston, Kan.